Fitness Tips

If you haven't already been including a walking program as part of a healthy overall lifestyle, besides the usual great reasons for doing so, perhaps the findings from this study I saw mentioned in the current issue of Women's Health magazine will get you lacing up your sneakers pronto.

According to a Medicine & Science In Sports Exercise study, those who walked 3 to nearly 9 miles per week cut their likelihood of needing diabetes medication by 23% over those who walked less than 3 miles per week.

Also interesting was that taking just one long weekly walk of 4 to 5 miles was enough to reduce the need for cholesterol medication by one-third, and blood pressure medication by 28% over those whose longest weekly walk was 2.5 miles.

According to the principal investigator, Paul Williams, Ph.D., the reason for the reduced need for diabetes medication, cholesterol medication and blood pressure medication when taking longer walks appears to be tied to maintaining a healthier weight, and can increase insulin sensitivity which is protective against diabetes.

We're not talking marathons here. The prescription to lower your chances of having to take diabetes medication, cholesterol medication and blood pressure medication, may just be as easy as logging an average of a mile an a quarter a day walking, and then, when you have more time, one day a week where you have a walk that totals 4 miles. This is a walking program just about everyone can fit in their schedule, or work towards achieving!

And now I'd like to invite you to check out the natural pain relief secret I personally use regularly to keep those aches and pains we all get from time to time from our workouts and other ailments at bay CLICK HERE.

Check out more of Melanie's empowering publications on work-at-home lifestyles, foreclosure investing and learn about her Marketing and Infopreneur Consulting and Coaching Services at http://www.SunLoverPublishing.com

Please note that I do not have an affiliation with any of the companies featured in this post--they are simply products I am personally familiar with. The views expressed are my opinion only and you should decide, along with your healthcare professionals, on the appropriateness for your personal use.

Overall, if bad weather or time constraints keep you from hitting the gym or the great outdoors for your regular workout, these indoor alternatives will allow you to do some kind of workout. Or if you are a gamer who was never into working out, exergaming could be your introduction to better fitness and health.

I personally have not tried exergaming--I still have a Colecovision :) but with workout possibilities like these, I just might have to get with the program--an exergaming program as a supplemental workout for me.

And now I'd like to invite you to check out the natural pain relief secret I personally use regularly to keep those aches and pains we all get from time to time from our workouts and other ailments at bay CLICK HERE.

Check out more of Melanie's empowering publications on work-at-home lifestyles, foreclosure investing and learn about her Marketing and Infopreneur Coaching Services at http://www.SunLoverPublishing.com

Weight lifting is one of my favorite gym activities. While I will use certain machines, I especially like to use free weights. I think that everyone should do some kind of weight lifting (as long as their doctor says it's okay) to maintain strength, muscle tone, body movement capabilities and to fire up your metabolism. Studies have shown that even eighty-year-olds who start lifting light weights for the first time in their lives can see benefits.

I had the privilege of working out with a very good personal trainer through my gym, 24 Hour Fitness, when I lived in Colorado last year. Here are some of the things I learned that can keep you from making these common weight lifting mistakes:

1. Doing the same workout over and over--there's a reason why there are a variety of weight machines and free weights. Getting stuck in a rut doing the same exercises, or using the same machines over and over will yield less results. Plus, it's boring. You need to change your workout up at least every 4-6 weeks!

2. Raising and lowering weights too fast--how many times have you pumped your iron to the tempo of a favorite fast song that started playing in the gym or on your iPod? How many times have you seen someone tear through a set of reps in the blink of an eye? You need to go s-l-o-w, and you need to hold for a moment. You'd be surprised how much harder you work just by going slower and holding the rep a moment. You may even need to lower the size weight you use until you get used to this.

3. Not varying the number of reps and/or weight--another way to change up your weight workout is to do many reps with light weights or fewer reps with heavier weights. This way your muscles do not get used to a particular method. It also helps when you personally want to work out, but you are not as energetic on a particular day, or you are feeling great and feel like you can do anything. You can match your reps and weight to your ambition.

4. Failing to plan an exercise sequence--my trainer had me alternating exercises, so that I would get extra calorie burning. For example, after doing one set of a bicep exercise, I would do crunches, or a shoulder weight exercise, and then go back to the next set of the bicep exercise.

Another strategy was to do alternate sets of two or three types of exercises for the same muscle to really work it to fatigue. For example, a traditional bicep curl, a hammer curl and then a concentration curl. Sequencing of exercises can make a huge difference!

5. Not using a personal trainer--I thought that I knew it all when it came to my workouts as I read all the popular women's fitness magazines (Muscle & Fitness Hers is my personal favorite as it's more serious and focused on weight lifting, yet geared towards women), and had been working out pretty faithfully for years. The truth was I did not know it all, and learned a lot.

Personal training is not cheap, and you need someone who is a good match for your personality and abilities, but with the right match you can accomplish a great deal and its well worth the money. You don't have to always work out with a trainer, but even doing a multi-session package once a year can be beneficial to fine tune what you are doing.

Lastly, and this is especially true of guys at the gym. You don't have to grunt and groan with every rep or throw down your weights after every set. We know you're lifting a lot and are there. No need to constantly make your presence known :)

Check out more of Melanie's empowering publications on work-at-home lifestyles, foreclosure investing and learn about her Marketing and Infopreneur Coaching Services at http://www.SunLoverPublishing.com

Recently I realized I was having trouble burning enough calories in a day, and I couldn't figure out why. I was still working out--walking and weight lifting--about the same as before, yet my daily total was under where it should be.

Suddenly, I noticed from tracking my pedometer that my total number of steps per day was down substantially despite maintaining, and even lengthening, the distance and duration of some of those walking workouts. So what was up if my number of steps wasn't?

I thought about anything that might have changed over the last couple of months in my daily routine, and then it hit me. Some on-site consulting work I was doing as a sales trainer for a company had ended (which I was actually glad about, as it gave me a more flexible schedule and time to do more of my projects), and I was back in my home office on a daily basis.

The company had this gigantic sales floor that I used to have to walk around from one end to the other all the time, as I would be monitoring the calls of the sales reps, and stopping to coach them as I caught them doing something that was off. I would be on one end of the sales floor, and hear someone sitting on the opposite end make a big error, and pretty much have to race across the sales floor to stop them before they did it again (as they usually didn't notice the instant, on-screen messages I was frantically sending them and I had to appear in person to make my point).

All that patrolling of that sizable distance, not to mention that the company had two levels to go up and down, was now missing from my weekday routine. I still was covering distance, but my 700 square foot secondary place in Colorado couldn't possibly compare.

Once I had figured this out, I was able to make the adjustment by:

--making a real effort to pace around my place whenever I could during phone conversations, thinking about ideas, making dinner, etc.

--going the long way to my desired destination whenever possible--whether another room in my place, or in the building, or anywhere I went on foot.

--going up and down the four flights of stairs in the complex multiple times a day

--bundling up and running every possible errand locally on foot in-between workouts.

--when that wasn't possible, driving to a destination, and then running all errands I could in that general area on foot.

Before long, by making a conscious effort to figure out why I wasn't burning enough calories, I had found a way to make up for the lost "mileage" around the sales floor, and picked up the pace! So if you're not burning enough calories each day, stop, analyze and go out of your way to pick up the pace in your everyday life--it's so worth it!

Check out more of Melanie's empowering publications on work-at-home lifestyles, foreclosure investing and learn about her Marketing and Infopreneur Consulting and Coaching Services at http://www.SunLoverPublishing.com

It's one of those great ironies that while two teams sweat it out in an NFL playoff game, most of us are definitely on the sidelines doing anything but sweating. We're sitting, and likely we're eating--double jeopardy.

Don't get me wrong, I can't play football at all, and I am not saying we don't deserve some couch time. But each of us can work up a sweat in our own way while we watch the game. It wasn't always that way for me, but fortunately I have kind of a built-in "OK, it's time to move now" sensor in my body. After watching the NY Giants beat Tampa Bay in the first game of a Wild Card double-header today, as much as I was into also watching the Chargers-Titans game, that "I'm a slug" feeling started creeping in.

What was the solution? SIMPLE!

I went down to my complex's gym and got in a walking workout on the treadmill for most of the first half of the game and watched the game on the TV monitor there. They sweated, I sweated, and burned almost 300 calories without taking in any calories. Even better was that I had my iPod with my workout tracks on, so I got to watch the game while not listening to the inane commentary (as much as I like Phil Simms as a Giant fan by birth and former Native New Yorker), or the commercials--how many times can hey run that same stupid Jeep ad with the guy singing with the widlife? Even the guy on the exercise bike turned to me to comment on how they were already wearing that one out!

Another idea--do something active everytime they go to a commercial or time out. Since there is less football per telecast than either ads or breaks in the action. This has to be an almost sure-fire way to get buff!

Check out more of Melanie's empowering publications on work-at-home lifestyles, foreclosure investing and learn about her Marketing and Infopreneur Consulting and Coaching Services at http://www.SunLoverPublishing.com

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